Best Nursing Schools 2009

Best Nursing Schools 2009

By Brenne Meirowitz, B.A., M.S., M.A.

The health care industry is expanding enormously, and finding the best nursing schools 2009 is the objective of many who are looking to enter the field for the first time, or pursue an advanced degree in nursing. As technology continues to grow, nurses will be expected to provide care to patients over great distances via the Internet as well as by telephone. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, on average, by 2012, the employment rate of Registered Nurses will exceed the growth rate of all other occupations. Therefore, if you are looking to apply to the best nursing schools 2009, you may want to begin your search by determining which schools are pushing technology.

There are several questions that you may want to ask yourself or examine in order to determine which programs are ranking as the best nursing schools of 2009. Firstly, do you want to attend school locally or are you able to travel or perhaps relocate? In the U.S., there are at least 739 nursing schools. Out those, 728 offer full-time programs and 478 also offer part-time programs. In its June 2009 edition, U.S. News and World Report lists top nursing programs across the country. However, this data was gathered in 2007, and is based on ratings by nursing educators, who essentially nominated up to 10 schools for each area of excellence.

There are many professional nursing sites and periodicals where you can get detailed information about programs as well as the most recent awards in your field of interest. One such site is The American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN), which in November gave out Awards for Excellence in Gerontological Nursing Education. The categories included:

Baccalaureate-Level Curricular Innovation at Harding University College of Nursing (Arkansas) and University of Southern Indiana College of Nursing and Health Professions.

Advanced Practice-Level Curricular Innovation at Oregon Health & Science University School of Nursing.

Geriatric Nursing Faculty Champion at the Elaine C. Hubbard Center for Nursing Research on Aging, University of Rochester School of Nursing.

Outstanding School of Nursing Communications at Mennonite College of Nursing at Illinois State University.